Jamestown Viaduct

Jamestown Viaduct strengthening: Between the town of Inverkeithing in Fife and the Forth Bridge lies Jamestown Viaduct. Built in the 1880s, this 115-year old listed structure was subject to a major upgrading in mid 1995 in order to enable it to cope with the increasing loads and traffic volumes on this heavily used route.
The Network Rail design brief for the project required that the external appearance remain largely unaltered on completion and that critical work be carried out in parallel with the scheduled 8-day closure of the Forth Bridge.
An innovative design approach to the project was developed by Corus, working closely with Mowlem, Network Rail and Historic Scotland.
For the benefit of the technically minded this involved the introduction of a reinforced concrete slab to act compositely with existing trusses and cross girders. To achieve this, steel diaphragm panels were installed in the apertures between the cross girders to transfer shear between the slab and the tops of the trusses. Trials were carried out in advance to verify the feasibility of welding the 19th century deck plates to function as permanent formwork for the slab. The connection between the new deck slab and the structure was provided via 8,600 stud connectors.
With the necessary strengthening work completed successfully the viaduct is now able to cope with 27 million tonnes of rail traffic per annum ? thus granting the historic structure a new lease of life.
The following images show various views of Jamestown Viaduct.

JF June 2006.

Addendum from 'The Scotsman' 7 July 2006
Forth bridges building on success.
WORK on a rail viaduct near the Forth Bridge and a new bridge in Montrose have been shortlisted for this year's Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award.
The Jamestown viaduct, at Inverkeithing in Fife, which is used by 200 trains a day, was strengthened during an eight-day closure last summer.
The judges said the ?4 million project 'showed civil engineering delivery of a high-standard where extremely tight deadlines prompted a highly disciplined team response'.


John Furnevel

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